Earlier this week I read Jackie’s post on why she quit DIY, and Kim and Scott’s post on hiring out, and both really struck a cord with me. I get so jealous when I see all these other bloggers working away on their homes. But for us, it simply wasn’t an option.
One, the project was just too big to take on ourselves, and two, we each have full time jobs that keep us away from home for about 10-11 hours a day. (And now for some reason I can’t get “Know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em” out of my head. Hopefully it’s in your head now too. You’re welcome.)
But then I watch Money Pit and suddenly DIY-free doesn’t seem so bad!
We did decide to tackle a few things ourselves:
- Painting – We had a few rooms professionally painted early on, but we quickly realized that our money could be better spent in other areas. We also did a lot of wall prep in certain areas, which seemed to take forever! You can see all of our paint colors and which rooms we painted ourselves here. Now all that’s left is our master bathroom and dining room!
- Floors – At this point, the only floor we’ve sanded and oiled is in the mud room, but we have plans to refinish all of the floors in the house ourselves. This will be a loooong process.
- Porches – We have plans to paint all 3 porches ourselves. It’s at the top of our list, and we’re hoping to knock it out in the next few weekends so we can enjoy them this summer!
- Tubs – We completely refinished two vintage tubs for the house, which was a huge money-saver. You can see the tutorial here, and the finished products here and here.
- The little things – These are probably the things that no one will ever notice, but make a big difference to us. I stained all of the trim around the floor tiles in front of our fireplaces, and painted our metal fireplace inlays and doors with Rustoleum. They look a lot sleeker now.
- The upstairs hall bathroom – This room has gotten basically NO love other than removing the really gross shower. Eventually we’d like to bump out the wall and make this into a full bathroom again, but for now we just plan to paint the floors, paint the walls, and keep the door closed 90% of the time.
Lately it seems like there has been more and more for us to do, and I have no doubt that we are in for a lifetime of DIY’s, so I’m not too upset that we haven’t gotten our hands all that dirty on the front end.
Where do you draw the line? Are there things you wish you had done yourself? Or things you wish you had hired out?
My hubby and I are the same way. We both work full time and then we get the DIY bug and work our butts off for a couple of weeks, then we crash. The only thing we actually have hired out was the crown molding in the living room. Not that we couldn’t do it, but we wanted it done before the house got re-appraised and were running out of time.
Thanks for visiting, Manda! :)
We have a fixer-upper too and certainly pick and choose when to DIY and when to hire out. The big things for me to hire out are the things that effect the “building envelope” – windows, siding, roofing, insulation, etc. Also, anything having to do with plumbing I would PREFER to hire out, but often hubby tackles those himself and gets totally frustrated when he ends up with a leak!
I totally agree–I’d rather hire out the basics like electrical and structural things. That way we get a warranty! My hubby is very handy, so I’m thankful for that! :)
My husband and I also default to DIY. We have not lived in a total fixer-upper, but have built fences, painted inside and out, tiled floors. Only yesterday I hired a plumber for some work that is related to building codes (we do not have a main water shutoff in the house since our home was built right before this code went into effect). Since I do not want trouble if we sell, I want proof that it was done professionally and to code. So far, I’m happy with what we have done ourselves and do not wish we had hired out…but ask my husband regarding digging 50 fence posts and he may have a different story. :-)
Sometimes hiring out is worth it for the peace of mind and warranty, but sometimes it’s easier and cheaper to just do it yourself. Thanks for stopping by, Stacy! :)
I so agree. My husband is very handy and I am a natural DIYer so we tend to do everything ourselves. I can be gung-ho about it enough that I eagerly want to tackle projects that we really shouldn’t be doing — but hubby always grounds me! LOL at this point I know– if he says that we should hire out for something, he means it :P Sometimes it’s the best decision.
I’m the same way, Shanti! It’s easy to look at something and say “oh I could do that!”…but it’s not always true. Ha! Thanks for joining in! :)